During the celebration of the Dies Natalis on 9 February 2009 Rector Magnificus Professor Paul van der Heijden presented a new edition of the University Year Book this year entitled 'Developing Knowledge' and a brochure on the Leiden research profile ' Crossing Borders in Fundamental Research.'

The University publishes a year book, according to Rector Magnificus Paul van der Heijden during the Dies Natalis celebrations, because we 'as Leiden University acknowledge the obligation to continuously show society what we do, how we do it and that we are worthy of the amount we cost.' Van der Heijden quoted European research which indicates that only 25% of Dutch people agree with the proposition that the government should spend more money on scientific research. This puts the Netherlands at the bottom of a list of 25 European countries. The list is headed by Spain and Itasly, where alomost 70% of the population agreed with the proposition. The year book 'Developing Knowledge' presents the results of scientific research carried out during the course of 2008 at Leiden University.